coming up in theays and weeks ahead. i see a brighter future for america. we toss it to greta van susteren, standing by to go on the record. greta, take it away. >> greta: tonight, we are in big trouble. the fiscal cliff rapidly energy. there is no more election and no more excuses. so will lawmakers finally do their jobs? >> we are going to go over the financial cliff. everybody in the obama camp knows we are going over the financial cliff. whether we raise taxes on the rich or not, we are going over -- raising taxes, confiscating the wealth's money would not save us. >> there is an alternative to going over the fiscal cliff, in whole or in part. it involves making real changes to the financial structure of entitlement programs and reforming our tax code to curb

special-interest loopholes and deductions. by working together and creating a fairer, simpler, cleaner tax code, we can give our country a stronger, healthier economy. >> i went to badbed, thinking all of this discussion about this election being the election that will tell us whether or not we have lost the country. i went to bed last night thinking we have lost the country. >> congress is the major shackle, the dysfunction in congress. we see other signs of lift. we have to have a congress that works together. between now and the year's end, that's our opportunity to take the first big step. >> the american people recognize that our economy -- getting it moving, is the only way we will be able to balance the federal budget. the question we should be asking, is not which taxes should i raise to get more revenue? but which reforms can we agree on that will get our economy moving again? >> obama is hell bent on remaking this country. we are in the middle of t. we are four years into a

transformation of this government becoming statist. liberty versus tyranny. we are four years into tyranny winning. guess what! no matter what happens now, it's bush's fault! obama's getting a mulligan. >> american people want us to work together. republicans want us to work together. democrats want us to work together. >> conserveatism, in my humble opinion, didn't lose last night. it's just very difficult to beat santa claus. it is practically impossible to beat santa claus. people are not going to vote against santa claus, especially if the alternative is being your own santa claus. >> mr. president, this is your moment. we are ready to be led, not as democrats or republicans, but as americans. we want to you lead, not as a liberal or conservative, but as

president of the united states of america. >> greta: so president obama. will he work with a sharply divided congress to avoid the fiscal cliff? former mississippi governor halley barb our is here. >> greta: a year and-a-half, president obottom athe obama administration came up with the idea of sequestration and it could be avoided if a super committee in november of last year made a decision on how to resolve our problems on the deficit and the debt. that didn't happen. december, nobody did anything, january, february, march, april, may, june, july. we are up to november, post-election on the edge of this thing being put into effect in early january. the two sides are fighting. is the president's obligation to get the two to stop fighting and to work this out? >> congress can't lead. 535 people can't lead. the president has to lead. and divided government is not some automatic gridlock. when ronald reagan was

president, we had a divided government, we did the reagan economic plan, we did social security reform, tax reform, immigration reform. when bill clinton was president, we had a republican congress, democratic president, we did welfare reform and the first balanced budget in a generation. but in each case, that president led. in each case, he was willing to advocate and he was willing to compromise for the greater good. this president hasn't been willing to do that. we will see. i thought john boehner said it right, we are inviting you to lead. >> greta: the thing that cannot be ignored is that we are a year past, when we knew the committee or limp a year -- almost a year past. and if leadership is what was needed and if you sign that to president obama, he hasn't done that. we are pushed up a -- against a deadline with very serious decisions. do you think the house and the senate and the president will resolve this by january 1?

or are they going to kick it down the road again? >> congress has a long history of preferring to kick the can down the road. there is no question about that. however, this is a much more serious thing that they have come up against than i have ever seen before, in terms of the budget and then the fiscal cliff. what do i think will happen? hopefully, they will agree on a framework. you are not going to do tax reform in the next 6 or 8 weeks. you are not going to do entitlement reform in the next 6 or 8 weeks. i think what we should hope for, that they get serious together, see a path and say, okay, we are going to take whatever the sequestration, we are saving 6 months, we are going to whack that out of the budget. at the end of six months, if we are not -- we haven't got the whole deal done, we will do another 6 months. but it has to be real action, based on the belief that they are going somewhere. otherwise, i don't think conservatives will accept t. they will say, no. you know, this has to be something real -- >> greta: how do you work

with -- how can anybody believe that? sequestration was just that. if something didn't happen, then all of a sudden, we are going to go to sequestration, so why believe it now? that's the first point. the second point is, the president's had over a year to do this and so has everybody else. i do my job, every american who is lucky enough tov a job in a 7.9% unemployment environment has done his or her job. if we don't do our job, we get fired. they are pushing it down, the president doesn't call up speak are boehner and say, let's solve this. nobody does anything. >> you have an absolute, wob -- 100%, legitimate complaint. the president sens his budgets up to the hill and he is so unconcerned that every democratic senator voted against the obama budget. what his reaction? totally unserious. this is back's up against the wall. if the president leads, we have a real chance. but let's don't be kidding ourselves. you are not going to write a tax

reform bill in a few weeks. >> greta: why should i believe under your plan, if they push it down the road -- we already did that -- that is not believable. what has changed? nothing. >> not my plan. no offense, but -- >> greta: you know what i mean i. under my prediction. >> greta: your prediction. >> you might say. >> greta: that's better. you talk about the budget. and you know, i was reading tonight about how the budget -- where we set our priorities, the nation's priorities. we recognize how much revenue we have and how we will spend t. it's the moral document, the time where we sit down and decide what to do. under the 1974 budget act, we are supposed to have this every year. that's not being done. the president has submitted proposals to senator harry reid, the house has submitted proposals and paul ryan passed a budget -- his budget passed. but senator harry reid won't even consider it and he won't encourage his committee to doing anything. it's a pocket veteo and stops the budget from going forward. >> in fairness to paul ryan and

john boehner, every year the republicans have been in the majority in the house in this administration, the house has passed a budget -- both times. the senate -- majority leader won't even bring it up. and the republicans bring up obama's budget -- as an amendment to force the democrats' hand. but if the president leads, i happen to believe that the president must be telling the democrat leader, don't do it. if the president starts telling now, we are going to try to get something done, i assume he will do what the president says, i am not here to defend where why the president didn't do t. he's the leader of the party. if the holdup is harry reid, a democrat, couldn't he call them and say, let's put it up and let's do it now? we hear that he is telling governor christie he will answer the phone in 15 minutes. >> maybe it's like mr. medvedev,

now maybe he will take a different attitude. i hope so, but your point is exactly right. it isn't just on this. i know the show's about the fiscal cliff and immigration reform and so many things. they haven't offer any legislation. >> greta: when you stall things, i mean the fact -- let's take the tax cuts, whether the taxes go up or down, frankly, to tell you the truth, i don't care. probably my taxes would go up. but i do know one thin, in this period of indecision and everybody's known about this, nobody's doing any investings. nobody's making any decisions, you can't do any planning because the president and the house and the senate have not made a fish or cut bait that. stalls the economy so people can't get jobs. people are not hiring. they don't do their job. >> i think you are really giving the government a break when you say it's just uncertainty. it is not just uncertainty. they have the sword hanging over their head with obamacare, that

the president wants, the biggest tax increase in american history. that will fall primarily on potential job creators. it is not just uncertainty about policy. it is that they have bad, bad policy staring them in the face. the government can't spend itself rich any more than your family can spend itself rich. but the government is sucking all of the energy out of the economy when the government's spending $10 billion a day and only takes in $6. >> greta: but every time it does something, advances something 3 months or 6 months, it puts a stall on the economy. people can't make decisions here. we have long-term planning. every time they do that thurts any american who wants a job, every time. it's selfish. you know, it is not doing their job. >> i don't take issue with what you are saying. this should have started a long time ago. but let me say, we have to be -- try to be accurate. you are not going to see an entitlement reform bill or a tax

reform bill that can be written and decided on and done right -- in a few weeks -- >> greta: no, i understand that. i understand that. but the whole sequestration thing started in july of last year. and it is because they didn't do their job that we are now up against in window, so it's the american people who suffer because they all and the president's the leader, didn't do their job. >> greta: i am here. i am doing my job. >> you are. you are trying to act like it's my fault. but that's okay. >> greta: i gotta blame somebody. >> have you to go to where this has to start. the president has to lead. i saw on the screen when you started the show, the word compromise. compromise is not a dirty word. when ronald reagan, who many thought until obamma was the most ideological president. he had to compromise on everything we have talked about. >> greta: talk about compromise. today, right after speaker boehner gave his statement about how he wants to reach out and

compromise, the ways & means committee, ranking member, democrat from michigan, puts out a press release and refers to the republicans must end their intransigence. so he insults them right away. how do we begin to have any sort of communication and compromise when they send out insults to each other in the media. >> that goes back to presidential leadership. if the president doesn't get his own people in line, how does he expect to be able to get the other side to -- to work with him. >> sean: >> greta: i appreciate you coming so i could yell at you, for my frusteration for the government. >> that's good -- >> greta: i feel much better now, thank you. [chuckles] >> thank you. >> greta: thank you, governor. tonight, is there good news for wisconsin republicans? despite electing a democrat to the senate and president obama winning that battleground state, there is some wisconsin republican celebration. they won back full control of the state government, winning

majorities in the state senate and the assembly. so what is ahead? governor scott walker is here. good evening. >> good to be with you. governor, what happened? your state didn't go for your candidate, for governor romney, rather? >> it didn't statewide. it was a close election, like it was in many battleground states, but didn't pull it out. the united states senate race, where tommy thompson fell short and mitt romney and paul ryan fell a little bit short. but it was a big night for us at the state level. when it comes to state government, we went from having lost the majority by 1 seat back in the recall election. we defended 3 of 4 of that seat we lost in june, the 1 seat that switched the majority to the democrats. last night, we picked up just one more seat. we picked up two seats and in the state assembly, we added to it. so in a night that didn't fair well statewide with federal offices, we did extremely well in the state senate and

assembly. that means we can continue to build off the rumple reforms and look forward to cutting taxes for individuals, doing more things to streamline the process for safe, environmentally sound mining and doing more things to get the young people the skills they need for the jobs that are open today. those are the things we are excited about. >> greta: how do you reconcile though -- it's a little bit peculiar that you all of a sudden, you take over the state senate, the ones that took off and high-tailed off to illinois a year and-a-half ago. so now you have a republican senate. hua republican assembly. you are a republican governor. but statewide, they vote for a democrat -- president obama by 7 points, i think it's a sizable margin, not the 14 from '08, but nonetheless, 7 points. and you have a democratic u.s. senator against a former republican governor. how do you reconcile those? >> it's odd. but it's a mid-western thing and specific to wisconsin, as you upon, in the sense that people

are independent. they like to vote the person of they very much vote the person over the party. they. reformers. for whatever reason, they thought the federal elections, at least staid -- statewide, the democrats got their attention. even the federal office at the -- excuse me, the local level, we had two congressional seat, two people who won two years ago in one case in a seat that was held by dave olbee since 1969, everybody thought tows were -- those were seats that nancy pelosi was targeting and they both won by solid majorities, a very independent streak in wisconsin and one to continue to stay on top, as republicans, we will have to be strong reformers. >> greta: to add to the unusual nature of it, congressman paul ryan was re-elected to his congressional seat by 10 or 11 points, sizable majority in a

very democratic district he's in. that's unusual that a republican would be elected. yet statewide, he was not able to persuade the people to go on the romney/ryan ticket. >> right. five of eight congressional ticks went solidly republican. only three went democrat. yet, statewide, a democrat won the senate and the president was re-leaked, yet, in fact the last time a republican won in wisconsin, it was close in 2000 and 2004, the last time a republican won was 1984 with ronald reagan. last night, my youngest son, now literally older than i was the last time a republican won in the state of wisconsin. we will see about the future. but it's one of those where we are very, very independent. it is true in wisconsin. you know, it will be interesting. i obviously supported mitt romney and paul ryan. but the other interesting aside from this. i said long before the presidential liquids, as important as it was, that states, state by state was going

to make the difference. now we are up to 30 republican governor, the most in a dozen years and that's where the fundamental change happens in america. we are going to work with the president but we will work in the states and i hope the president can do the same thing in washington. >> greta: now, you won't have to work with the republicans, you have the assembleet and senate. i am curious because -- i was in wisconsin when the capitol was being stormed by a lot of unhappy citizens. and then they had the recall, you won by 6 points more than when you were elected for governor. do you have any specific plan? now you have the assembly and the senate? >> well, you know, for us, it upon help us in the budget process. but early last yee year, before the protests, the first month i was in office, we pass the most aggressive pro-jobs agenda in the country. most of the democrats, a good majority of the democrats in the assembly and the the senate, joined in with republicans in

many boils -- bills. i think, we are talking about making it easier for small business and getting more skilled workers, those are the things that the democrats can join the republicans and you have a common-sense majority and we will be ready here in wisconsin. >> greta: have you talked to your friend, congressman paul ryan, since the returns last night? >> no. i text him. i figured i would let him sleep in, relax, certainly, i think he will be ready to go. you know, paul -- someone asked me last night about this. i said, sometimes in presidential elections, the v.p. candidate is beat up and tarnished a little bit. i think -- i say this not just as a good friend of paul and a fellow cheesehead, i think in the end, paul ryan is stronger after the race than before that. i think people saw the good, decent soul that he is and the courage that he had and i think he grew on people, more than the other way around. i think pall will continue to be a leader here in america. we are proud to have him as a fellow cheesehead.

>> greta: governor, thank you, sir. >> thank you. >> greta: straight ahead, one day after the election, the stock market taking a severe beating. an ohio business owner is facing a 30% hike in health care costs, thanks to obamacare. what will that do to his business? he will tell you why he has big worries. and congressman allen west is not conceding. he is demanding a recount and asking the judge to order the seizure of ballots and voting machines. the latest on that race in florida, coming up. where others fail, droid powers through.

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>> greta: today, the nation got punched in the stomach with the dow plunging 313 points, the wort day in a year. why did the election results send the market in a frenzy? or was it the election results? peter barnes is here. peter, i know 300 -- you say it will bounce right back up, right? >> uhhh,, in the long run maybe. >> greta: why? >> concerns over the fiscal cliff and whether that will be resolved in a timely manner. whether or not we will go off the cliff and send the economy into a recession. those are the warnings from the economists. and in europe, the recession is worst than had been thought.

and our biggest market for our goods and services for american companies is europe. that means lower profits for american cutches and lower stock prices. >> greta: how did the banks do today? >> they got killed today. >> greta: why? >> because of the president's re-election meant that -- that the dodd-frank financial reforms, which are considered bad for banking, will stay in place. the president's not going to allow those to be repealed. governor romney ran on repealing dodd-frank as well as obamacare. and so we saw some health insurance stocks whacked today. obamacare not good for health insurance. >> greta: except the hospital corporation of america went up 9% because they plan to -- so some stocks plan to benefit from obamacare, so some stocks went up. but 9 percent is a sizable jump. >> it is. for the health care service providers, hospital companies will get more business from

obamacare. health insurance company, however, have a lot of restrictions, caps on expenses and limits on their profits from obamacare. winners and losers. >> greta: today, 313 points is a lot of points. it is seems to react to what happened in europe and to the election. is that in five day, is it likely to be back up and we shouldn't read too much into it? >> if i knew the answer to that -- >> greta: you would be rich. you wouldn't be working here. >> i would be in my villa in st. bart right now. i am not going to get in trouble with the sec. listen, you know what i did with my investment port portfolio to? nothing. i am a long-term investor, trying to save for retirely. i am trying to do that in the next 10 years. i don't pay attention to the day-to-day fluctuations. i would point out that we had a bigger drop, 5 percent, when president obottomma was elected four years ago, the day after the markets were down. 5% and since then, the markets

are up 75%. >> greta: is that routine, when a president elects, the next day it goes down and then it does come up later. is that routine? >> i love to do my homework and get in the weeds on this. here is the chart for every presidential election for a century. and on average, the one-day reaction, 1/10 of 1% decline, for the last presidential elections for the last century. for the rest of the year, the markets were up on average, 1 1/2%. >> greta: if the fiscal cliff is one of the reasons it went dun, we knew about the fiscal cliff the day before and the day before. why today? >> there is a lotted of buy on the rumor, sell on the news in wall street. wall street had... at one point thought that maybe governor romney might pull out a

win -- >> greta: even if he had won, he would only have 6 weeks to do something. >> governor barb our says, it doesn't matter. >> greta: it shouldn't matter. they both have a six-week window. but the reality sank in. we got an outcome last night that investors got some certainty about who was going to be in the white house, so that was a piece of the puzzle. >> greta: peter, thank you. >> okay. >> greta: coming up, inie -- in ohio, a small business owner doesn't know if he can keep his workers covered under obamacare. what is the real cause of the gridlock in washington, or what? woperson has single-handedly blocked the path to the budget. that's coming up. ♪

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>> president obama's re-election means obamacare will stand. and now some small business owners trying to figure out how much the health care law could cost them and whether they can afford to provide for their employees. the president's ceo of universal metals from bowling green, ohio. good evening, sir. i know you do not like the obamacare. i am curious what impact you anticipate it will have on your business. >> hi, gret a. good evening. i can tell you that our concerns are the hid know factors that haven't been shown to us at this point. but what we do know is that...

at this point, we know that this will be our first year that we are going to be reporting our employees' value on their health care on their w-two,s. we are told by the government that that is a routine policy that they are asking for. but i believe we all are of the understanding that once we start reporting those valuations, that will be taxes lev yead on the valuation for the employee or employers. that's a fer that we have. we have not sure -- how far that's going to take us and how deep it's going to cut into our operating costs. one of the big things that we have as a problem is employers, medium and small-sized employers, our upbringing over all the years, i have employees with me over 20 years, our focus that has been to take care of our employees and they can depend on us. the problem we are facing, i am not sure if i am going to be

able to continue to offer the health care that they, their families and kids need. that's the fear we are going forward with into '13. all the hidden agendas that have been held back on obama health care, we feel are going to start to surface so we will get a better understanding. but the fear is that if the costs continue to rise, we are not going to be able to provide health care to our employees and take care of them the way we have so many years. and the rising costs will then force us to really consider whether you maintain, retract or grow your business, going forward. that's the fear we have. >> greta: let me ask you two questions. if you report the value, let's say the value is dr. 3 thousand. the fear is that the government will determine that's income to the person and the person receiving that w-2, will now have to pay income tax on the $3,000. is that what you mean as to the value on the w-2?

>> to the best of my knowledge, that's what i understand. i am not a health care expert. that's what i understand. >> greta: have you found any indication whether your health care costs are going to go up and what percentage for your employees? i am hearing from some business owners, they are getting information about what will happen to their health care costs. i assume every year, it goes up a little bit. do you have any idea about next year? >> it is funny you ask. as of monday, we got our renewal policy quote. and our insurance company is telling us, we have a 30% increase for next year. right now, we are -- we are reeling back from that, trying to figure out what we are going to do for next year, not considering the obamacare, just health care in general. we saw an increase we have never seen this much in one year. so, you know, the problem is, is that, you know, our employees are paying more and more as we participate in the policies.

at some point, i am not sure if the employee's going to be able to afford to move forward and, as i understand with the obama health care, at some point, they will be moved to state-managed or state exchange programs. we don't know what the coverage or the cost will be on that. if the employee -- he will never be expected to pay $3- or $4- or $6,000 a year. at that point then, you know, the person is going to pay for that-- the other taxes. somebody's going to be taxed for it to provide them health care. obamacare is moving toward providing a national supplier of health care. no one know what is that national supplier's going to be charge charging. that's the unknown and the fear we have moving forward. >> greta: i hope sooner or later someone answers those questions because i think a lot of small and bigger businesses are confused about this. thank you, sir. >> thank you very much.

>> greta: coming up, the senate majority leader harry reid, a huge part of the gridlock problem. is it time to pick a new leader? our panel's here to talk about naand allen west news. he has a fight on his hands. he just went to court. the latest about congressman allen west in two minutes. [ male announcer ] at scottrade, you won't just find us online, you'll also find us in person, with dedicated support teams at over 500 branches nationwide.

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>> greta: republican congressman allen west is demanding a recount. he is now taking his fight to court. he asked the judge to order the seizure of ballots. his campaign call the the scene at the port saint lucie election office, chaotic. patrick murphy has declared victory. but the west campaign saying the race is far from decided and there is no rush to declare an outcome. in arizona, the first female

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>> greta: is it time, should democrats dump their leader, harry reid? single handedly block progress. his senate didn't pass a budget in 2010, between the 11 or 2012. is it time for majority leader reid to go? joining us, byron york, and sam youngman and michael crowley. byron? >> i checked with senator sessions office and tonight is the 1,288th day since the

sbt senate has passed a budget, they are supposed to do it every 365 days. what has happened was the senate pass -- senate democrats passed a budget to their liking with huge filibuster-proof majority in april of 2009. that's the last time they passed one one. they have used rules and procedures to extend the think about -- >> greta: it's a dodge. >> it's a dodge of the 1974 law. it is true, the president has submit aid budget, nobody wanted to vote for that. the house republicans have passed a budget. and it remains stuck. the person holding it back is harry reid. >> greta: so to the extent, sam, that the president talks about wanting to reach across the aisle and speaker boehner wants to reach across the aisle and others want to reach across the aisle, has senator harry reid shown any indication that he will pocket the bills? >> i don't know that harry reid

is a super villain here. i think he has done what the height house needed him to do. he is not bruceing the president's budget because it would lose. he is not bruceing the republican budget -- >> greta: is the president 9 villain? >> i not assigning labels of villains and heros. >> greta: but the budget's important -- >> there is no question. >>. >> greta:th getting the economy revved up. you are telling me that the president -- doesn't want him to take it up? >> what i am saying here in washington, i don't think have you to look far to find more than one person responsible for the gridlock we are facing now. >> look, i think that not passing a budget, to some degree is a symptom of the problem in congress, not a cause of it. you need the senate and the house to agree it a budget to get anything passed. that's clearly want going to happen. it's a three-way process that involves the president. it is true that reid is a proxy for the president. but the guys have to get in a room together and hammer out a deal. yeah, it would be preferable if

the majority in the senate, you know, had on paper an articulation haaf they wanted. republicans department always do that when they had a majority. but i don't know how significant it is -- >> greta: what is? >> the lack of a budget -- >> greta: well! >>ats a document -- as a philosophy, symbolically, that's all well and good. but if they can't reach an agreement, it is basically -- >> greta: you have to at least try! i mean, they may not -- but if you don't put oneota table in the senate, you stop the process, completely. it just stops dead. that's why we haven't had a budget. none has come through the budget. sam has said and you think that senator reid is a proxy for the president. bottom line, we don't have one. >> it locked in place, the spending priorities of democrats of 2009, which reid and the president are happy about. they got vast increases in spending at that time. they don't want to go through the fights. so as long as they have the majority, they have

discovered -- we don't have to pass a budget! >> greta: if you look at that, that means that the spenning -- there is no organization. no sort of limits. and what happens is we get bigger deficits and bigger problems. now we have sequestration, i mean, it is not like -- it's simple what happens when you don't have a budget. it has been -- that's one of the reasons we have a 1974 budget act requiring them and the media just says, that's the way it always is. they have been doing that for years, the republicans do it, we don't do it. that's true. but nobody's holding the feet to the fire of the white house and the house and the senate. >> if you look at last few years, what's the one thing that gets stuff done-- the threat of christmas break or a crisis. you look back to the debt ceiling debate. they didn't act. they didn't act until they absolutely had to. what is the -- what is the pressure? what's the incentive? >> greta: they are not going to do anything now. they have the deadline. they have known about this since the super committee failed in november and they knew it would be the end of december.

now they -- they can't implement anything in 6 weeks because nobody holes them accountable. >> you have a vast philosopheical gulf between the senate, the house and the white how the house. for anything to get done, a small number of leaders will have to bang it out. it won't happen through the parliamentary procedure. it would be more informal. >> greta: which mean brings me back to harry reid. they have a different democratic leader who will sit down with the president and speaker boehner? >> i think you can change the guy in the chair, youingly get the same result. ootion the party. it's the white house, foremost. i don't think it will make a difference. >> the parties have been at war before and they did pass budgets. there is something different about what is going on now. >> i don't know that you pin that on harry reid, i think whoa whoever is in that seat, they are doing the same thing. they won't introduce a budget of the president, their own party that, could embarrass the president, if it's defeated. they won't put it up to their party member who is are

vulnerable, up for tricky votes. >> greta: we will take a break. stand by, panel. straight ahead, the election is over. we will get the answers -- or will we? about the murders of four americans in benghazi. that's next. i'm jessica and this is my emergen-c. keeping up with the kids is tough, so i drink emergen-c. with vitamin c for immune support and b vitamins for natural energy, i'm ready for whatever they get into. get your free sample at myemergenc.com. stay healthy and feel the good. can you help me with something? nope! good talk. [ male announcer ] or free windows training when you buy a computer at staples. anotheway staples makes it easier to upgrade.

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>> greta: now that president obama has won a second terjs will we get the answers to what happened in benghazi? next week onovember 15, the house and senate intelligence committees will hold hearing -- hearings on the attack that killed four americans. but will we get any real answers? back with our political panel. any significance to the hearings? >> sure, this is an important story. it is an uncomfortable story for the white house. obviously, people who would like to have seen the administration feel more heat before the election will feel this is coming after the fact. you know, some of the things i have learned and read in the last few days in the press make me think there is less for the administration to be embarrassed about than it appeared, at least on the question of the response. there was good reporting that they mobilized special forces and got to sicily and couldn't get to benghazi. there were no armed drones and no ac-130 gunships. so i really think the questions on the table are number 1, why was the compound in the annex

not more... better defended in the wake of the warnings that there might be threats? that might be at the doorstep of the cia, as much as the president. and do you have this strange narrative of the white house blaming the video for a longer time than the video seemed to suggest -- >> greta: it's before, during and after. basically. you say, during -- that was the facts that make it look a lot better than someone sm previously thought. >> a couple of categories, it is looking better for the white house. there is a big question of blaming the video, i think. >> when you ask if we get answer, i certainly hope so. i think the american people are entitled to them. i don't think this was ever going to be the election issue that people wanted it to be. but now we are back on governance. the president owes an explanation to the american people, especially with the youtube video explanation that they used for so long. i mean, i -- at this point it defies common sense why they would be saying that. >> your introduction was a

little bit sad, now that the election's over, can we finally find out about benghazi. there is something to that, by the way on the cia, petraeus, head of the cia will testify in closed hearings here. there is another thing, the relationship between these congressional investigations and hearings and press coverage. what is going to happen -- god forbid anybody leaks material -- but reporters will begin to get new material that congress has uncovered about benghazi. tell start appearing in the press a couple of days before the hearings and we will see more attention to it it than we have seen. >> the thing that has caught my attention is story about the videos. it doesn't make sense to me that they ran out with the video protest story. that's where i am hung up. why did they feel the need to come out with that story? that's where i am hung up. just tell us. and because they won't just tell us, and there has been this sort of dodging and avoiding. it may have been because of the election, but if they tell us and get it out there, that may

end. >> it that's an inside-the-white house story. i don't expect you will find an answer. congress can get answers from the state department and the cia, but as far as the white house and the internal deliberations. >> greta: might have email, statements. that has been such a bizarre narrative, even the washington post has said that, you know, there are questions to be answered. it is -- it's bizarre. >> it's a real mystery. i think people shouldn't forget that there were demonstrations near riots all over the world as a result of this video -- >> greta: but not there. that's a significant point. >> but it was a very confusing moment in time. they were trying to figure out what was happening in a bunch of countries it looked like it was a serious threat to the embass necairo. i am not trying to let them off the hook, but i do think it was a murky situation. i do think people who think that the election could have had a different outcome, i think are deluding themselves irk the

state department's timeline says when the ambassador was out at 8:30 and that it was calm and normal. i don't buy that protest thing for one second. they knew that very early on and they ran out with it. i upon going to take the last wor word on it. coming up, talking about a last-ditch effort, did president obama use his favorite food to win over the voters? hear this one, next. new pink lemonade 5-hour energy?

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>> greta: 11:00 is almost here, flash studio lights it's time for last call. president obama try to talk to voters this summer. >> the president did a lot of last minute interviews yesterday. and yesterday, president obama said his weakness is nachos. yes. and advisors told him, relax, we've already got the hispanic vote. >> greta: that is your last call. lights are blinking and we are closing down shop. we'll see you again tomorrow gh